Flood warning - Updated 02.12.2009 0400 hrs

LB6

http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/EasyTide/EasyTide/ShowPrediction.aspx?PortID=0718&PredictionLength=7

Haven Trooper

I was just comming on the bus to UL and saw that the flood is after reaching the walls of the travel lodge hotel near aldi on the Dublin road. The river is definatly rising in the shannon banks/ westbury area also

ttcomet

The fire brigade and the corporation were just going round the Mill Road checking on the estates. They were in Spring Grove when I seen them. They were parked up near the gates looking at the road/track up from the river and the large field area beside it.

To my seriously untrained eye the water level looked as low if not lower then it was yesterday.

Haven Trooper

Haven Trooper wrote: »

I was just comming on the bus to UL and saw that the flood is after reaching the walls of the travel lodge hotel near aldi on the Dublin road. The river is definatly rising in the shannon banks/ westbury area also

Im in Shannonbanks and went into town this morning and am only home an hour or so and things are definately worse since i was gone.....the bus wasnt allowed through and they were pumping water at a rate of knots and bringing in truckfuls of earth I presume to build up the banks......our street had just begun to flood again but they seem to be on top of it so far......the river which is literally just outside my home is very very high indeed at the moment....

maquiladora

Well lads, just thought I'd give you an idea of how the weather is looking for the West regarding rainfall. I've been looking at the latest weather charts and it looks like it's going to stay mostly showery until next Tuesday when you should see consistent rain for petty much the whole day, but it won't be heavy. On Wednesday evening however it looks like there could be a band of heavy rain that could last 5 or 6 hours. Thursday would be showery again, nothing heavy but I'm afraid Friday and espically next Saturday (Dec 5th) look very wet indeed. It could all change but I'm just giving ye a heads up of what it looks like will happen now.

zuroph

Just announced on radi that they are in the process of evacuating a lot of houses in Clonlara, Montpelier, Castleconnell and lower annacotty. 2 inches increase in river height, when full tide and full moon hits, this is going to get worse.

Auzirish

zuroph wrote: »

Just announced on radi that they are in the process of evacuating a lot of houses in Clonlara, Montpelier, Castleconnell and lower annacotty. 2 inches increase in river height, when full tide and full moon hits, this is going to get worse.

I'm upstream from the weir in Annacotty, in Riverbank. I assume that lower Annacotty is under the bridge and beyond?

littlemissteach

zuroph wrote: »

Just announced on radi that they are in the process of evacuating a lot of houses in Clonlara, Montpelier, Castleconnell and lower annacotty. 2 inches increase in river height, when full tide and full moon hits, this is going to get worse.

And earlier on the radio, it said the full high tide next week is going to increase the level of the river by a METRE(thats about 3 feet ya??)...

Itsdacraic

littlemissteach wrote: »

And earlier on the radio, it said the full high tide next week is going to increase the level of the river by a METRE(thats about 3 feet ya??)...

Ya about that, but only on the tidal stretches. Not sure where it stops being tidal though.

truerenew

Just been in the Mill in Annocotty and the river is high but shouln't get close to breaking the bank in upper Annacotty i.e. Riverbank i'd say its a different story beyond the bridge though!

anoble66

Jesus, these ariel pics really show how widespread the flooding now is:-

http://www.limerickleader.ie/EditorialGallery.aspx?ArticleID=5860160&SectionID=3419

zuroph

think annacotty mentioned Mountshannon road.

Mc Love

Feck St.Marys Park is fairly close to being under water

Paulegend

sparkysrovers wrote: »

Feck St.Marys Park is fairly close to being under water

sur thats no loss:) if only we could move the good families out and the bad ones in:rolleyes: what a city we'd be left with

They spent the whole day and up to about an hour ago building a earthen bank along the riverside in Shannonbanks....trucks were in and out for hours with loads of earth, feeling a bit less panicked now and hoping that this new bank will hold back any floods that might come! they were still pumping water all day too and its still being pumped now so hopefully we will be ok now, really do not want my home to be flooded, my heart went out to the people on the news whose homes were destroyed....God love them....

Mr E

Fair play, Ammers. Well done.

Kess73

With any luck, you will not get to feel as those people do, Ammers.

It must be nervewracking to have to be worrying about whether or not you get flooded each day.

It does seem like the people working on building barriers and pumping water know what they are doing in Shannonbanks though, so hopefully all this will just give you a tale to tell your kids about when they are older or a tale for your grandkids in the future.

the drifter

Deleted User wrote: »

They spent the whole day and up to about an hour ago building a earthen bank along the riverside in Shannonbanks....trucks were in and out for hours with loads of earth, feeling a bit less panicked now and hoping that this new bank will hold back any floods that might come! they were still pumping water all day too and its still being pumped now so hopefully we will be ok now, really do not want my home to be flooded, my heart went out to the people on the news whose homes were destroyed....God love them....

And hopefully when all this is over proper flood defenses will be put in place so these people never have to go through it again!

topper75

Yeah different moon next week will mean spring tide phase. New or full moon makes spring tides. We are lucky that they were only neap (caused by half moon) when the floods came.

Tidal range depends. I would often see a slight tidal difference up as far as Shannon Fields in Corbally (opposite the Clare bank's Westbury). The tide is likely to be a factor of concern for Shannon Banks and areas further downstream, esp the 'strands' of the city centre.

Past floods were usually followed by some dry weather and we got relief. Can't see any let up in the rain I'm sorry to say.

Delphi91

topper75 wrote: »

Yeah different moon next week will mean spring tide phase. New or full moon makes spring tides. We are lucky that they were only neap (caused by half moon) when the floods came.

Tidal range depends. I would often see a slight tidal difference up as far as Shannon Fields in Corbally (opposite the Clare bank's Westbury). The tide is likely to be a factor of concern for Shannon Banks and areas further downstream, esp the 'strands' of the city centre.

Past floods were usually followed by some dry weather and we got relief. Can't see any let up in the rain I'm sorry to say.

Neap tides are not "caused by a half moon" as such. The moon remains the same size. They are caused when the moon is at it's first or third quarter of its journey around the earth. This means that the angle from the moon to the earth to the sun is 90 degrees. This gives the "illusion" of a half moon due to the way the sun's light reflects off it. A spring tide occurs when the sun, moon and earth are in a straight line, which is when there is a full or a new moon.


High tide next Thursday morning at 6.51am is going to be 1.4m HIGHER (6.1m) than it was this morning at 2.22am (4.7m). In fact over the next week, the high tides will be getting gradually higher.

maquiladora

Just looking at the weather charts this morning, it looks like the rain tonight will mostly stay in the south and shouldn't push up too far but Tuesday looks like there could be about 10 hours of moderate to heavy rain with the Western half of the country getting the heaviest. I'm no expert but it looks like a lot of rain and that combined with what you guys are saying about the tides next week paints a worrying picture.

Waffle

They spent the whole day and up to about an hour ago building a earthen bank along the riverside in Shannonbanks...

Hi all,
i'm curious about this bank they are putting in place. I know the area well, so i'm assuming the new bank will be a continuation of the existing bank that ends with the riverside path. How far would this bank need to be extended? There is a dike over to the "graveyard" field. So would this have to be temporarily blocked, in order to stop water backing up the wrong way thru' dike? I must ring my dad and ask him to take a look. Fingers crossed this does the trick, as i have other family very close to this point, who are now living in Jury's hotel!
Cheers.

Waffle

Waffle wrote: »

Hi all,
i'm curious about this bank they are putting in place. I know the area well, so i'm assuming the new bank will be a continuation of the existing bank that ends with the riverside path. How far would this bank need to be extended? There is a dike over to the "graveyard" field. So would this have to be temporarily blocked, in order to stop water backing up the wrong way thru' dike? I must ring my dad and ask him to take a look. Fingers crossed this does the trick, as i have other family very close to this point, who are now living in Jury's hotel!
Cheers.

I havent gone down, exteamely muddy! but from what I can see from my window the mound of earth is blocking the path from my view, I think they are doing it right down to Hampstead but as I say I havent gone to have a look.....they are working at it again today, place nice and muddy but would much rather that then floods anyday!

Osk

Waffle wrote: »

as i have other family very close to this point, who are now living in Jury's hotel!

Just a question on this if you don't mind! I was chatting with a colleague yesterday and I thought that it was the council (or someone?!) who covered the cost of families evacuating their homes for floods etc but he said it is the families themselves who pay.

It's a situation I hope I never find myself in but just wondering......

Berty

Deleted User wrote: »

I havent gone down, exteamely muddy! but from what I can see from my window the mound of earth is blocking the path from my view, I think they are doing it right down to Hampstead but as I say I havent gone to have a look.....they are working at it again today, place nice and muddy but would much rather that then floods anyday!

I drove down there a while ago. YOu cannot get from St Munchines Drive to Hampstead so I didn't go t hat far and couldn't be bothered going around.

The mud is right up on the road with no gaps for the footpath so entirely temporary. It is its highest from St Munchins drive onwards but slopes down on Riverside drive to where it finishes.

Its around 4 foot high.

Berty

Osk wrote: »

Just a question on this if you don't mind! I was chatting with a colleague yesterday and I thought that it was the council (or someone?!) who covered the cost of families evacuating their homes for floods etc but he said it is the families themselves who pay.

It's a situation I hope I never find myself in but just wondering......

Im afraid that is what we have Insurance for and that is what the words

Non malfeasance are used to defend the councils position.

Osk

Thanks Berty. Makes sense I suppose but it's a lot to be out of pocket for waiting for insurance companies to cough up.

What a horrible situation.

--amadeus--

maquiladora wrote: »

Just looking at the weather charts this morning, it looks like the rain tonight will mostly stay in the south and shouldn't push up too far but Tuesday looks like there could be about 10 hours of moderate to heavy rain with the Western half of the country getting the heaviest. I'm no expert but it looks like a lot of rain and that combined with what you guys are saying about the tides next week paints a worrying picture.

The idea that more rain will automatically mean more flooding or that we need a dry spell to clear teh floods isn't 100% correct.

Obviously a period of dry weather will help and rain is not ideal. But the floods were caused by unprecedented rainfalls - I have heard figures of the equivalent of 1/3 of the annual rainfall coming down in November. So the amount of water entering the Shannon waterways was greater than the amount leaving and we get a flood.

Even if it continues to rain as long as the amount of new water entering the system is lower than the amount draining out the flood levels will fall. And while rainfall is predicted I haven't seen predictions of rain as sever as recently.

People need to be less sensationalist - so far (all things considered) we've got off pretty lightly and there is every reason to believe that things will begin to improve now.

Berty

Berty wrote: »

I drove down there a while ago. YOu cannot get from St Munchines Drive to Hampstead so I didn't go t hat far and couldn't be bothered going around.

The mud is right up on the road with no gaps for the footpath so entirely temporary. It is its highest from St Munchins drive onwards but slopes down on Riverside drive to where it finishes.

Its around 4 foot high.

oh yes it definately looks temporary.....the river is moving extremely fast out there this morning did you notice? and soooooo high........it looks so much wider than normal....Just goes to show up MOther Nature is a far greater power than any man.....well with a little help from the ESB!! Awful dull morning was going to venture out in my car but dont think I will......shall continue monitoring situation from the warmth and comfort (thus far!!!) of my lounge....

Aidric

--amadeus-- wrote: »

People need to be less sensationalist - so far (all things considered) we've got off pretty lightly and there is every reason to believe that things will begin to improve now.

Excellent point. Reading the Limerick Independent during the week, one was left with a sense that the city was on the brink of lockdown. Such sensationalist reporting is irresponsible and reflects badly on the integrity of the publication.